Rapid decompression forces emergency landing

By WALTER BERRY, Associated Press
| 6:45 p.m.April 1, 2011

In this photo provided by passenger Brenda Reese, unidentified passengers take photos with cell phones of an apparent hole in the cabin on a Southwest Airlines aircraft Friday, April 1, 2011 in Yuma, Ariz. Authorities say the flight from Phoenix to Sacramento, Calif., was diverted to Yuma due to rapid decompression in the plane. FAA spokesman Ian Gregor says the cause of the decompression isn't immediately known. But passengers aboard the plane say there was a hole in the cabin and that forced an emergency landing. (AP photo/Brenda Reese) NO SALES
— AP

In this photo provided by passenger Brenda Reese, unidentified passengers take photos with cell phones of an apparent hole in the cabin on a Southwest Airlines aircraft Friday, April 1, 2011 in Yuma, Ariz. Authorities say the flight from Phoenix to Sacramento, Calif., was diverted to Yuma due to rapid decompression in the plane. FAA spokesman Ian Gregor says the cause of the decompression isn't immediately known. But passengers aboard the plane say there was a hole in the cabin and that forced an emergency landing. (AP photo/Brenda Reese) NO SALES
/ AP

PHOENIX 
A Southwest Airlines flight from Phoenix to California was diverted Friday to a military base in Yuma due to rapid decompression in the plane, federal officials said.

Ian Gregor, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman in Los Angeles, said the cause of the decompression wasn't immediately known, but some passengers on Flight 812 to Sacramento said there was a hole in the cabin that caused a rapid descent.

"It dropped pretty quick," said passenger Brenda Reese, who provided cellphone photographs of the cabin damage on the Boeing 737. The pictures showed a panel that was hanging open in a section above the plane's middle aisle.

"It's at the top of the plane, right up above where you store your luggage," Reese told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "The panel's not completely off. It's like ripped down, but you can see completely outside... When you look up through the panel, you can see the sky."

Reese said the plane had just left Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport when she awoke after hearing a "gunshot-like sound" in the cabin and oxygen masks dropped for passengers and flight attendants.

Officials with Dallas-based Southwest said there were no injuries among the 118 people aboard. However, Reese said "there were some people that were passing out because they weren't getting the oxygen."

She said one flight attendant's oxygen didn't work and that he fell and suffered a bloody nose.

Reese said there was "no real panic" among the passengers, who applauded the pilot after he emerged from the cockpit following the emergency landing.

Authorities said the plane landed safely at Yuma Marine Corps Air Station/International Airport at 4:07 p.m., some 150 miles southwest of Phoenix and about 40 minutes after takeoff from Sky Harbor.

Gregor said an FAA inspector from Phoenix was en route to Yuma to investigate.

Gina Swankie, a spokeswoman for Sacramento International Airport, said Southwest was sending another plane to Yuma to take the passengers to Sacramento. They were expected to get to Sacramento around 8:30 p.m. Friday, some three hours later than their originally scheduled arrival.

"I fly a lot. This is the first time I ever had something like this happen," said Reese, a 37-year-old single mother of three who is vice president for a clinical research organization. "I just want to get home and hold my kids."

More than two decades ago, another plane, also a Boeing 737, blew open at 24,000 feet when a 20-foot section of the aircraft's upper fuselage ripped off. An Aloha Airlines flight attendant was sucked out of the jet and killed, and 61 passengers were injured.